Government Transparent as Mud
I’m impressed by this administration. I really am. I do not think that I’ve ever read news items about our government and exclaimed “wow” or “you’ve got to be kidding me” or “and he calls himself a [insert party name here, in this case Republican]?” aloud as often as with this administration. 10 out of 10 for inventiveness, negative-several-million for representing the people and the country responsibly. The latest mind-boggling item (and I’m sure I’m only catching 1 out of 100 mind-boggling items these days) is the news that the White House is attempting use a memo drafted and signed in secret by the White House and the Secret Service wherein in the Secret Service declares that records identifying visitors to the White House are no longer under their control, but the White Houses’ as “Presidential records” and, therefore, no longer available to the public (even under Freedom of Information requests). This memo was apparently created and signed during the hype surrounding the lobbying scandals involving Jack Abramoff as a way to fend off requests for visitor information to the White House that may show that White House aides and senior staff (including Karl Rove) were getting visits from those involved in illegal lobbying. Apparently, our President thinks its fine for these records to be used against others, but as soon as anyone tries to use the same records to come after him or his cronies, the new Iron Curtain comes slamming down.
Back when the Republicans and other interested parties were so eagerly investigating former President Clinton about getting a hummer from an intern, they requested (and received) White House visitor logs from the Secret Service in order to prove that she was there. They were also used to prove visitation Denise Rich, wife of Marc Rich who was a fugitive at the time from lots of tax-dodging charges and those niggling questions about illegal oil-deals with Iraq during the Iran hostage crisis. Clinton used one of his presidential pardons to wipe Mr. Rich’s slate clean in what was a very controversial move that launched lots of investigations (and which was significantly more serious than any blowjob, in my opinion). Denise Rich was a big donor to the Clinton campaign, so it’s pretty obvious that she bought her husband’s pardon. Hey, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Republicans AND Democrats make me equally nauseous. But here’s one point in Clinton’s favor: he didn’t make up a whole lot of new rules with secret memos and Presidential “signing statements” in an attempt to wrest more control (and keep it hidden) than should be in the hands of the President.
So Bush’s administration is now trying to stonewall those groups trying to investigate just how far up the ladder the lobbying scandal goes by putting together secret memos and pulling them out, regardless of legality, at the last minute. The Federal courts will now have to look at this memo as they decide who “owns” the records, even though its never been an issue before. The Bush administration has been working hard for 6 years to make our government’s workings impenetrable and they keep succeeding, even if its only in stonewalling and delaying. It should be an insult to any Republican who truly believes in the ideals held forth by their party. Instead, they just bow their heads and dig their snouts into the trough a little more.
Of course, the fact that the Administration is trying so hard to keep people out of the know simply leads one to conclude that they are just as dirty as I expect they are: filthy, rotten and, due to other bullshit calls by this government that we morons put into office twice (even if I didn’t vote for the fucker either time), covered in other’s blood.
